Country profile

GEORGIA

Capital:Tbilisi

Language: Georgian

Currency: Lari (GEL)

Population: 4.760.000

President: Mikheil Saakashvili

Georgia is located in the Caucasus on the crossroad of Asia and Europe on the northern periphery of subtropical zone. Georgia represents an eastern gateway to Europe along with the other states of the South Caucasus-Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The geographical location of Georgia conditions the diversity of its nature. Almost all climate zones existed on earth are spread on the small territory of the country – from the humid subtropical climate to the glaciers and all types of soil. Abundant water resources of Georgia are used in irrigation, in the energy generating sector and for common water supply.

Georgia has a great prospective potential to use its rich natural complexes for different purposes, for instance, for agriculture.

Specific natural and economic conditions greatly affect Georgian agriculture. In terms of modern borders, total area of the country territory is 69.7 thousand sq. km. with nearly 2.6 million hectares of agricultural land. The average use of land per person is 0.16 hectares of plough-land and 0.62 hectares of grazing land. Georgia is a country of high agricultural potential, but currently is not capable to use its potential completely. About 1.3 million people are employed in this sector, which is 55% of the total employment of the country.

In 2002, Georgia took 120th place in the list of 227 countries according to the GNP per person, representing the group of countries with low income in accordance with the international standards. Consumption expenditures of the household to farm ratio was 56%.

Agriculture is of vital importance to the Georgian economy, and its share in GDP accounts for 21%. This indicator reduced from 30% down to 21% during 6 years. This is caused by the poor agricultural infrastructure of Georgia, low level of agricultural production intensification and lack of modern scientific support and practical achievements in the production. There are serious problems in utilization of land resources: the structure of planted areas of food crops was destroyed. In fact, the material-technical base and agricultural equipment need to be re-established. Highly qualified specialists are not being trained complying with European standards. Investment activities also face huge barriers and the management and marketing systems are not effective.

The production level of animal food products does not meet the population requirements. The animal food product supply farms a big problem. Moreover, there is a high risk of pollution of these products, which may cause a serious danger for the human health. Food safety and quality do not comply with appropriate standards. To ensure safety of human health it is necessary to provide strict controls of the safety and quality of animal food products.

The structure of agricultural land ownership underwent a significant transformation in the first stage of the agrarian reforms. After the land reforms, about one million households became the owners of nearly 30% of total agricultural land.From 1990 on the transition from the centrally planned economy to the market economy caused a crisis that, on its part, resulted in a reduction of the number of farm animals, decrease in productivity and a down fall in the animal production industry.